Sermon 81

Sermon 81 consists of 9 chapters and is devoted to the words of the Gospel (Matthew 18: 7-9), which warn against the temptations of the world. Blzh. Aurelius Augustine pronounced it in Hippo at the end of 410, a few months after the capture of Rome by Alaric. Blzh. Augustine discusses what burden and temptation are. The main remedy against temptations is meekness, which he defines as obedience to the Divine will and confidence in good Providence. The preacher gives examples of hardships and temptations from the Holy Scriptures: righteous Job and his wife, Christ and the Apostle Peter. Both righteous Job and Christ teach an example of overcoming temptation. In chapters 7-9 blzh. Augustine calls the capture of Rome by the Visigoths nothing less than a disaster, which can become a real temptation if not understood correctly. The death of Rome should not cause grumbling, because the death of all material things is inevitable, predetermined and predicted by the Holy Scriptures. The only hope for humanity is eternal life given by Christ. The true life of Christians is not external survival, but the life of the soul. The preacher also says that it is not surprising that Rome is perishing when Christianity has already triumphed in the empire. By helping the victims, Christians must fulfill the commandments of mercy and hospitality, thereby glorifying Christ. Preface, translation from Latin and comments by S.A. Stepantsova Augustine's sermon, numbered 81 by Benedictine publishers, placing it among the sermones de scripturis, was delivered in Hippo at the end of 410, a few months after the capture of Rome by Alaric. In time, this is the second sermon, clearly mentioning events that seemed or could seem to contemporaries to be the death of Rome. The first known sermon mentioning the same event, 113 A (= Denis 24), was preached a month after it, in September 410 in the city of Hippo Diarrhytus and expounded on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus from the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Sermon 81 is the first of the Hippo sermons known to us to touch upon the Roman theme 1 . As already mentioned, the publishers classified it as exegetical sermons. Indeed, the reasoning in it begins with the words from the Gospel of Matthew, warning against the temptations of the world (Matthew 18: 7-9), and continues with examples of what burden (pressura) is and what temptation (scandalum) is, as well as an indication that the main remedy against temptations is meekness, which Augustine defines (with a set of statements and examples) as obedience to the divine will and confidence in good providence. Examples of hardships and temptations are given, firstly, from Scripture: Job and his wife (Job’s suffering is a burden, the words of his wife are a temptation), Christ and the Apostle Peter (dissuading Christ from suffering, Peter gave reason for temptation). Both Job and Christ provide a model for overcoming temptation. The following is an example, as if taken from life: the seducer is a friend of an imaginary Christian, persuading the latter to give false witness in order to avoid oppression from the “powerful world of this world.” In constructing such situations to illustrate moral themes, Augustine's preaching talent is particularly evident (examples can be seen in his other discussions on moral themes, for example, in sermon 211 or in the homilies on the First Epistle of John). Finally, starting from the seventh paragraph, according to the division accepted in publications, the preacher examines, in the light of the issue of hardships and temptations he examines, the capture of Rome - a tragic and ominous event from the recent past, which could not but dominate the minds of all subjects of the empire. The capture and ruin of Rome, which in itself is nothing more than a “burden”, i.e. disaster can become a real temptation if it is not understood correctly and if a proper rebuke is not given to those who accuse Christians of the destruction of the “eternal city.” The objections given by Augustine to these attacks are varied and multidirectional, but can be reduced to a common denominator. Let's list the main ones. 1. The death of Rome should not cause grumbling, because the death of everything material is inevitable, predetermined and predicted by the Holy Scriptures: in fact, the whole world is doomed to destruction, and, as Augustine shows, the marks of old age are already visible on it. The only hope for humanity is eternal life given by Christ. 2. In the proper sense, Rome – i.e. civil community - did not die. While the Romans live, Rome does not perish. However, the true and desirable life for Christians is not external survival, but the life of the soul, which grumbling and blasphemy can only harm. 3. It should not be surprising that Rome is perishing while Christianity has already triumphed in the empire. In the sermon under consideration, Augustine does not speak out as decisively and sharply as, for example, in the interpretation of Ps. 136 (paragraph 9), where he directly states that no material benefits should be expected from the coming of Christ or the triumph of his gospel. (This idea, however, can be partly deduced from what is retold above under number 1.) The preacher in this case decides to perform retorsio against the defenders of the previously revered pagan gods: their admirers do not reproach them for not saving Troy, the predecessor and mother of Rome. (The corresponding legend is given with reference to Virgil and Sallust.) The sermon ends with another call to resist temptations with meekness. Here, in the last sentences of the sermon, a new theme appears: by helping those who suffered during the Roman events, Christians must fulfill the commandments of mercy and hospitality and thereby glorify Christ. Thus, in sermon 81, one of the first monuments of Christian literature, which expressed a deeply thought-out and consistent attitude towards the fall of Rome, one can see the beginning of Augustine’s thoughts on several topics, the full maturation of which would later lead to the creation of the treatise “On the City of God.” Translation based on edition: PL. T. 38. Col. 499–506. About the words of the Gospel (Matthew 18:7–9), which warn against the temptations of the world 1. The Divine Scripture, from which we have just been read, reminds us that against the predicted temptations we must arm ourselves with the strength of virtues, protect Christian hearts from temptations, resorting to the help of the Lord's mercy. For who is a man if You do not remember him?" 2. Woe to the world because of temptations 3 - thus says the Lord, thus says the truth; she frightens and edifies us, does not want to leave us without warning, for she has not deprived us of hope. In the face of this “woe!”, that is, in the face of evil, which we need to fear, tremble, and beware of, the Lord consoles us and encourages us, and gave us instruction in that place of Scripture where it says: Many have peace to those who love Your law, and for them there is no offense 4 . He showed what kind of enemy one should be afraid of, but he also did not stop showing what kind of wall to protect oneself with. Have you heard: Woe to the world from temptations! - and thought: where to go from this world so as not to be tempted? Where to go from the world to avoid temptations? Of course, resort to the One who created the world. How can we resort to the Creator of the world? Listen to the law that is preached everywhere. And it’s not enough to listen - you need to love him. When the divine Scripture instilled in you confidence in the face of temptations and convinced you not to be afraid of them, it did not say: Peace be unto many who hear thy law, for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous with God. Doers of the law 5 will receive justification, and since faith works through love, it is said: Much peace to those who love You, and for them there is no offense. The verse that we listened to and repeated in singing also agrees with this: The meek will inherit the earth and will enjoy the abundance of peace 6 . For there is much peace to those who love Your law, and the meek are precisely those who love the law of God. Blessed is the man whom You teach, O Lord, and You teach him from Your law, to make him meek in the evil days, until the pit of the sinner is dug out. The words of Scripture seem so different - and yet they merge and converge in one statement, and no matter what you hear from this abundant source, you too will rest, agree, as a friend of the truth, filled with peace, seething with love, protected from temptations. 2. So, we are invited to see or find out, or learn how to be meek. In those places of Scripture that I just reminded you of, we should find what we are looking for. Be careful, this is an important matter: we must be meek, this is necessary in adversity. For it is not the adversities of this age that are called temptations. Listen to what temptations are. Someone, for example, falls into need and begins to experience hardships. The martyrs also endured hardships, but their hardships did not crush them. Beware of temptation, but not too much hardship. Hardships weigh on you, and temptation crushes you. What is the difference between burden and temptation? Hardships prepare us to show patience, maintain constancy, not abandon fidelity, and not agree with sin. If you observe all this or observe it, the burden will not lead you to a fall; the burden will serve you for the same purpose that the weight in the oil press serves: not to crush the oil berry, but to obtain pure oil. And if, in the end, you glorify God in this burden, how useful is the pressure that has drained pure moisture from you! The apostles sat under burden in chains, and in such burden they sang a song to God. How hard was it? And what juice came out thanks to the hardships! In great hardship Job sat on the dunghill: a beggar, deprived of property, possessions, sons: he only had plenty of worms - but this is if you look at the outer man. Since he was full of God inside, he praised God, and the hardship that befell him was not a temptation to him. So what's the temptation? The temptation came when his wife came up to him and said: Say something about God and die 8 . Everything was taken away by the devil, and only Eve was left to the tested righteous, left for temptation, and not for consolation. That's where the temptation was. She showed him the full severity of his misfortunes, and added her own to his misfortunes, and began to incline him to blasphemy. But he was meek: God taught him his law and made him meek in evil days, he loved the law of God, and therefore there was much peace in his heart and there was no temptation for him. His wife was a temptation, but not for him. And look how meek he is, how instructed in the law of God - I’m talking about the eternal law. Indeed, in the time of Job, the law that was written on the tablets had not yet been given, but the eternal law - the law on which the law given to the chosen people was based - still abided in the hearts of the pious. And so, since the law of God made him meek in the evil days, and thanks to his love for the law of God he had much peace, look how meek he is, what he answers. From here learn what I wanted to show, what it means to be meek: You spoke like one of the foolish women. If we accept good things from the hand of God, will we not also endure evil? 3. We listened to an example of what it means to be meek; Now let's define it in words, if we can. The meek are those to whom in all good deeds, in everything good they do, only God is pleasing, and who, despite everything evil that happens to them, do not turn away from God. Brothers, look at this rule, at this standard, let’s stretch ourselves according to this standard, let’s strive to grow in order to grow to this standard. What good is it that we plant and water if God does not give it growth? For neither he who plants means anything, nor he who waters, but only God, who gives growth 9 . Listen, if you want to be meek, if you want to become meek in evil days, if you love the law of God, which allows you to avoid temptation and acquire much peace, so that you may possess the earth and enjoy the abundance of the world. Listen if you want to be meek. Whatever good you do, do not be satisfied with yourself, for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble 10. So, no matter what good you do, let only God please you, and if you happen to suffer evil, do not turn away from God. What more? Do this and you will be saved 11. Evil days will not consume you, you will escape what is said: Woe to the world from temptations 12. What world needs grief from temptations? To the one about whom it is said: And the world did not know Him 13. Not to the world about which it is said: God in Christ reconciled the world to himself 14 . There is peace in a bad sense, there is peace in a good sense. The world in a bad sense is all the bad people in the world, the world in a good sense is all the good people in the world 15. This is what usually happens on the field. This field is full of - what fruit? Wheat. One can – and rightly – say about it: this field is full of straw. Or a tree: it is full of fruits. Another will say: it is full of leaves. And the one who says “it is full of fruits” speaks the truth, and the one who says “it is full of leaves” speaks the truth. The abundance of leaves does not exclude fruits; the abundance of fruits does not crowd out leaves. The tree is full of both, but one is torn down by the wind, the other is collected by the gardener. Likewise, when you hear: Woe to the world from temptations, do not be afraid: love the law of God, and there will be no temptation for you. 4. But it happens that your wife persuades you to do something evil. You love her as you should love a wife: she is a member of your body. But if your eye causes you to stumble, if your hand causes you to stumble, if your foot causes you to stumble—you just heard what the Gospel says—cut it off and throw it away from you 16 . Everyone who is dear to you, everyone whom you value, should not be dear to you, should not be a member of the body dear to you, as soon as he begins to seduce you, that is, he begins to incline you to something evil. Listen: this is where the temptation is. We took the example of Job and his wife, but there it is not called temptation. Listen to the Gospel: when the Lord predicted his suffering. Peter began to talk Him out of His suffering. Get away from me, Satan, you are a temptation to me 17. The Lord, who taught you a model of life, taught you at once what temptation is and how to protect yourself from temptation. A little earlier He said to Peter: Blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah 18, and thereby showed that he is a member of His body. But as soon as Peter began to seduce Him, He cut off this member from His body, and then healed it and took it back into the body... 19 So, the one who begins to persuade you to do something evil will be a temptation to you. And pay attention, beloved, to the fact that this most often happens not out of malice, but out of perverted goodwill. Your friend, who loves you and is loved by you in return, your father, brother, son, wife, sees that evil has befallen you, and wants you to act according to evil. What does it mean to “see that evil has befallen you”? This means: he sees that it’s hard for you. And perhaps you have suffered a hardship for telling the truth; you are being oppressed because you do not want to bear false witness. I'm saying this as an example. There are many examples, because woe to the world from temptations. Well, for example, some powerful person in this world asks you to provide a service by perjury in order to cover up his dishonest gains, his robbery. You refuse, you deny the lie, so as not to reject the truth. In short, he gets angry, and because he is powerful, he begins to oppress you. Then a friend comes up to you, who doesn’t want you to be oppressed, doesn’t want you to be in trouble: “Please do as you are told, is it a great thing?” No other way than Satan said to the Lord: It is written about You, that He commanded His angels, that You should not dash Your foot against a stone 20 . Perhaps this friend of yours, knowing that you are a Christian, will want to prove to you from the sacred law that you must do what he considers right. “Do as he says,” “But it’s a lie, it’s not true.” - “Didn’t you read: Every man is a liar 21?” Now this is a temptation. He is your friend, what should you do? This is an eye, this is a hand - cut it off and throw it away from you. Don't agree. “Cut off and throw away” means “don’t agree.” In our body, the members form a unity thanks to consent, live thanks to consent, interact thanks to consent. Where there is discord, there is illness or injury. So that person is a member of your body: you love him. But he seduces you, so cut him off and throw him away from you. Don’t agree, remove him from your hearing, and maybe he will return, corrected. 5. How to do what I’m talking about: cut off, discard, and thereby, perhaps, correct? How to do this, answer 22. He wanted to persuade you to lie, relying on the law. He said: “Tell me!” Perhaps he did not dare to say: “Tell a lie,” but said: “Tell him as he commands.” You answer him: “But that’s a lie!” And he, to find an excuse: “Every man is a liar.” And you, brother, object to him: “Lying lips kill the soul 23. Look, what you heard is not a trifle: Lying lips kill the soul. What can that oppressor of mine do to me that makes you feel sorry for me and lament my situation, and don’t want me to be in trouble, and yet want me to do evil? What can that powerful man do to me? What is he oppressing? My flesh. You say, “He oppresses your body.” Even if it destroys my body, I will say. How much less harm he causes me than I will cause if I lie! He kills my flesh, but I kill my soul.” The mighty of this world kills the body in anger, and lying lips kill the soul. He kills the body, but the body is doomed to die even if it were not killed; and the soul that is not killed by untruth will be accepted forever by the truth. Therefore, take care of what you can save, and let what is doomed to perish perish. You gave a rebuke, but did not explain the meaning of the words “every man is a liar.” Give him a rebuke for this too: let him not think that he managed to find confirmation in the law for his words, with which he persuaded you to lie, as if he could force you to break the law with the words of the law. It is written in the law: Thou shalt not bear false witness, 24 and in the law it is written: Every man is a liar. Remember what I mentioned a little earlier, when, as much as possible, I tried to define the words of a meek person. A meek person is one to whom in all good deeds, in everything good he does, only God is pleasing, and who, despite all the evil that happens to him, does not turn away from God. Therefore, whoever says to you: “You can lie, because it is written: Every man is a liar,” answer: “I do not lie, because it is written: Lying lips kill the soul 25. I do not lie, because it is written: You will destroy all who practice iniquity 26 . I do not lie, because it is said: Do not bear false witness 27. Let him who does not like the truth in me oppress my flesh with burdens; I listen to my Lord: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body 28.” 6. What about “every man is a liar”? Or maybe you're not human? 29 Answer immediately and truthfully: “I am ready not to be a man so as not to be a liar.” Look: God looked down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there was one who understood or sought God. All have turned away, and together they have become worthless: there is none who does good, not even one 30. Why? Because they wanted to be sons of men. And in order to pluck them from their iniquities, to redeem, to heal, to cure, to change the sons of men, He gave them the power to become sons of God 31 . What's surprising? You were men, since you were the sons of men; you were liars, for every man is a liar. God's grace has come to you and given you the power to become sons of God. Listen to the voice of my Father: I said: you are gods and sons of the Most High 32. Since people are sons of men, if not sons of the Most High, then they are liars, for every man is a liar. If they are sons of God, if redeemed by the grace of the Savior, if purchased with precious blood, if regenerated by water and the Spirit, if predestined to a heavenly inheritance, then they are, of course, sons of God, and therefore gods 33 . Why do you need lies? Adam is just a man. Christ is the God-man. God is the Creator of all creation. Adam is a man. Christ is a man and the mediator of God, the only Son of the Father, the God-man. You are a man far from God, God is high, far from man, the God-man has become in the middle. Recognize Christ and ascend through man to God. 7. And now, having corrected ourselves and (if we have achieved something) remaining in meekness, we must unswervingly adhere to our confession 34 . Let us love the law of God in order to avoid what is said: Woe to the world from temptations. Let's say a little about the temptations that the world is full of, how temptations multiply and hardships abound. The world is being ruined - grapes are being trampled in winepresses. Hey, Christians, heavenly race, pilgrims on earth, seeking the fatherland in heaven, wishing to become fellow citizens of the holy angels! Understand that you came to earth to leave. You walk through the world, striving for the one who created the world. Don’t let people tied to the world confuse you, who want to stay in the world but are forced to move out of it, whether they want it or not, don’t let them deceive you, don’t seduce you. The hardships you see are not temptations. Stand in the truth and they will strengthen you. Sorrow comes - it will serve you for what you want: either hardening or condemnation. How she finds you is how she will become for you. Grief is fire. If she finds you with gold, she will cleanse you of pollution. If he finds you like straw, he will turn you into ashes. Because the increased burdens are not temptations. What about temptations? Those statements, those words that we hear: “This is what your Christian times are like.” This is the temptation. They tell you this so that you will blaspheme Christ out of love for the world. Your friend, your advisor, is telling you this—it means your eye. Your helper, your co-worker, tells you this, and therefore it is your hand. This is told to you by the one who perhaps supports you, who lifts you from the low ground - therefore, your foot. Tear it out, cut it off, throw it away from you - don’t agree. Answer them as the one who was persuaded to perjure answered. And you answer this way: if someone tells you: “These are the hardships that befell us in Christian times, the world is in ruin,” answer him: “Even before this came true, Christ predicted this to me.” 8. Why are you embarrassed? Worldly burdens rock your heart, just as the storm rocked the ship in which Christ slept. This is the reason why your heart is troubled, O deep-hearted man, this is the reason. The ship in which Christ sleeps is the heart in which faith sleeps. Are they telling you something new? What's new to you? “In Christian times the world is in ruin, the world is destroyed.” But didn’t Christ tell you: “The world will be destroyed”? Did not your Lord tell you: “The world will be destroyed”? Why did you believe the prediction, but are embarrassed when it comes true? This means that a storm has come to your heart, beware of shipwreck, wake up Christ. Christ, says the apostle, dwells in your hearts through faith 35. Christ dwells in you through faith. There is faith there - Christ is there, faith is awake there - Christ is awake, faith is forgotten - Christ is sleeping. Wake up, wake up, say: “Lord, we are perishing 36!” This is what the pagans tell us, and what is even worse, bad Christians. Arise, Lord, we are perishing.” Your faith awakens, and Christ begins to speak to you: “Why are you embarrassed? I predicted all this to you. This is why I predicted that when troubles come, you would hope for good things, so that you would not lose heart in troubles. Are you surprised that the world is falling apart? Be surprised that the world has grown old. He is like a person: born, grows, ages. In old age there are many misfortunes: cough, runny nose, sore eyes, irritability, weakness. A man has grown old - he has many misfortunes, the world has grown old - there are many hardships in it. Has God given you little: in the old age of the world he sent you Christ to renew you when everything is destroyed. Do you not know that it was Christ who he represented as the seed of Abraham? For the Apostle says: The seed of Abraham, which is Christ. He does not say: and to the seeds, as of many, but as of one: and to your seed, which is Christ 37 . Therefore, a son was born to Abraham in his old age, because Christ was to appear in the old age of this world. He appeared when everything was already decaying and renewed you. The created world, the created world, the transitory world was already declining. He could not help but abound in hardships: Christ came to console you in your hardships and promise you eternal rest. Do not cling to an aged world, choose youth with Christ, who told you: “The world is perishing, the world is growing old, the world is growing weak, the world is suffocating from old age. Do not be afraid: your youth will be renewed like an eagle's 38. 9 . So, they say, Rome perishes in Christian times. Maybe Rome does not perish, maybe Rome only received a blow from the scourge and did not die, maybe it was only punished and not destroyed. Perhaps Rome does not perish unless the Romans perish. For they will not perish if they praise God, but they will perish if they blaspheme. After all, what is Rome if not the Romans? We are not talking about stone and wood, not about tall buildings and vast walls. All this is created in order to collapse someday. When man built, he laid stone upon stone, and when man destroyed, he threw stone upon stone. Man created, man destroyed. Do we insult Rome by saying, “Rome is collapsing”? Rome doesn't exist, so maybe its creator? Do we insult the founder of Rome when we say: Rome, founded by Romulus, is collapsing? The world created by God will also fall. But what is created by man will collapse only when God wants, and what is created by God will collapse only when God wants. If man's creation does not fall without the will of God, how can God's creation fall according to the will of man? However, God created for you a world destined for the fall, and therefore created you mortal. Man himself, the beauty of the city, man himself, inhabitant, ruler, helmsman of the city, came into the world in order to leave, was born in order to die, appeared in order to pass away. Heaven and earth will pass away 39 - what a wonder if the end of the city ever comes? And maybe the end of the city is not yet now, but someday the end of the city will come. But why does Rome perish while Christian worship is taking place? Why did his mother, Troy, burn during pagan sacrifices? The gods in whom the Romans placed their hope, the Roman gods in general, on whom the pagan Romans relied, moved from Troy, which was set on fire, to found Rome. The Roman gods were originally Trojan gods. Troy caught fire. Aeneas carried away the gods who fled from Troy, or more precisely, while fleeing, he took with him the insensitive gods: the runner could carry them, but they themselves could not run. With these same gods he arrived in Italy, and with false gods he founded Rome. It will take a long time to tell what happened next, I will only briefly say what their books tell us about. The well-known Roman writer says this: “The city of Rome, as far as I know, was founded and initially inhabited by the Trojans, who, having fled from their country under the leadership of Aeneas, wandered from place to place” 40. So, they carried the gods with them, founded Rome in Latium, and installed them there to worship the gods who were worshiped in Troy. The Roman poet depicts Juno's anger at Aeneas and the fleeing Trojans, and speaks on her behalf: Now a race hostile to me is sailing on the Tyrrhenian waves, By sea to Italy, rushing Ilion and the battled Penates 41, – that is, he carries with him the defeated gods to Italy. Already when the defeated gods were carried to Italy, what was this: a sign of divine protection or a bad omen? Therefore, love the law of God, and let there be no temptation for you. We ask you, we conjure you, we call on you: be meek, have compassion for the suffering, accept the weak 42; and in this misfortune, may your hospitality to the strangers, the needy, the toiling, abound, and may your good deeds abound. Let Christians do what Christ commands, but let the pagans blaspheme on their own. For an overview of the sermons mentioning the capture of Rome (s. Denis 24, s. 81, s. 296, s. 105 and Sermo de excidio urbis Romae), and a brief analysis of their content, see the article: Fredouille J.-C. Les Sermons d'Augustin sur la chute de Rome // Augustin prédicateur (395–411). Actes du Colloque international de Chantilly (5–7 September 1996). R., 1998. P. 239–448. Here is a list of the most important studies on this topic. A detailed analysis of Augustine’s attitude to the fall of Rome was given in the monograph: Maier T.G. Augustin und das antike Rom. Stuttgart-Koin, 1955, pp. 55–68. See also Inglebert H. Les romains chrétiens face à l'histoire de Rome, Histoire, christianisme et romanité en Occident dans l'Antiquité tardive (III–V siècles). P., 1996. Ps.8:4. The translation of quotations from biblical books is made in accordance with the version of the Latin text that Augustine quotes. Job 2:9. For example, Job Augustine will resort to in a similar context also in the “Tale of the Ruin of the City of Rome.” An indication of the different meanings of the word “world”: direct (“the universe”) and figurative (“people living in the world”) are often found in Augustine. Here are some examples: In Epist. Ioh. tr. 2, 12; In Evang. Ioh. tr 2. 11; 3.5; 52, 10; sermo 121. 1. See Stepantsov S.A. “Do not love the world...”: the concept of “mundus” in Augustine // Power, law, religion: interaction between the secular and the sacred in the medieval world. M., 2001. P. 12–17; and also in a magazine publication: St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. Discourses on the Epistle of John to the Parthians. Reasoning two. On 1 John 2:12–17 // Alpha and Omega. 2003. No. 1 (35). pp. 54–69. At this point the publishers suggest a gap. This sentence is on behalf of a mental interlocutor. In the subsequent exchange between the imaginary Christian and his unconscious well-wisher, punctuation marks are used conventionally: the preacher can, without strict consistency, move from his character's direct speech to his own direct speech, without strictly separating them. These two proposals are on behalf of the opponent. Augustine repeatedly interpreted Ps. 115:2 (“Every man is a liar”) in this sense. See Stepantsov S.A. 257 Augustine’s sermon along with his other interpretations on Ps.116:2 // Bulletin of PSTGU.1: Theology, philosophy. 2008. Vol. 3 (23). pp. 7–9. The Gospel narrative about the pacification of the storm (Matthew 8:23–27) receives the same interpretation from Augustine in sermon 63. See also Lu Bonnardière A. – M. La tempête apaisée // Saint Augustin et la Bible. P. 1985. P. 145–148. Sall. Cat. 6.1. Per. IN. Gorenshtein. Verg. Aen. 1. 67–68. Per. S.A. Osherova.